Monday, 24 July 2017

An Interregnum in Idlib

If you're dependent on Western media for your information, you will almost certainly have been unaware of this, but significant things have been happening in Idlib, which is ruled by cannibal headchopper "rebels".

It is important that you understand what, because very soon, when the Syrian government launches its offensive to recapture Idlib, all this is going to disappear down the memory hole, and we'll keep hearing liberal bleating about "moderate rebels" again.

Just like we did in Aleppo. Remember Aleppo? Where the liberals wanted to start WWIII in support of al Qaeda?

Now, Idlib has become a dumping ground of terrorist gangs from elsewhere in Syria. The reason is that terrorists who have signed withdrawal treaties from elsewhere in Syria, like Homs, Hama, Aleppo or Ghouta, have been bussed to Idlib, which is on the border with Turkey. The province has as a consequence become filled to the brim with terrorists.

Unlike other parts of Syria, Idlib has never had a large ISIS presence. The remaining groups there have, by a process of massacring each other, devolved into two broad gangs.

The first of these is Hayyat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). We will be talking about who these people really are in a moment. For now, remember that it's is a Wahhabi group ideologically indistinguishable from ISIS. HTS has just succeeded in taking full control of Idlib city and the Turkish border, driving its rival gang into the Idlib countryside, to the considerable dismay of terrorist supporters online, who were cheering HTS only a few days ago and have suddenly discovered that it's a child-soldier-using, extortionist engine of evil.

The opposing gang alliance is led by Ahrar al Sham. It is a Salafist group mostly comprising Syrian Jihadis owing allegiance to the banned Muslim Brotherhood. It was formerly an ISIS ally, then switched to becoming an HTS ally, and is now an enemy of both. In fact I can't think of any other terrorist gang in Syria which Ahrar al Sham has not fought at some time or other.

So, are Ahrar al Sham the "good guys"? Only if you choose to ignore inconvenient facts, such as that the gang, Harakat Nour ad Din al Zinki, that beheaded the sick twelve year old Palestinian boy Abdullah Issa in Aleppo, is part of the Ahrar alliance, having defected from HTS.

So, as things stand, HTS rules Idlib, and with its control over the Turkish border crossings now has full rights to extort all it wants from all imports, from food to money to weapons, that come across this border.

Sultan Erdogan of Turkey, who is ideologically beholden to the Muslim Brotherhood, will be less than happy with this, but it's unclear just what he can do about it. Why is he unhappy?

Because HTS is Wahhabi, not MB, and there is also an interjihadi struggle going on just as there is one between human beings and jihadis. And unlike ISIS there's no oil for HTS to sell at bargain rates from Idlib to Turkey, while everything that could be looted is already long gone. Erdogan is corrupt to the chromosomes; if there anything he loves it's money.

All this is extremely important, but remember that none of this will be mentioned in your media when Assad retakes Idlib. And overnight everyone will forget who HTS really are.

And who is HTS, really?

Hayyat Tahrir al Sham used to be called Jabhat Fateh al Sham, which used to be called Jabhat al Nusra, which used to be called....you may have guessed it by now....al Qaeda.

2 comments:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. In some ways, this name change game reminds me of the old TV series in the USS of A "Dragnet". It always started the same way; the announcer would say,"The story you are about to witness is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." Well, when dealing with Wahhabis/al-CIAda/ISIS, etc.. the names get changed to protect the guilty.Oh, if you can find it, there is a comedy song "Saint George and the Dragonet" by Stan Freberg with Daws Butler (I think he is on this). It begins by mentioning that the needle should be changed to protect the record. It was originally on a 45rpm vinyl record. It may have been part of an album also, but I am not certain of that.Well, as long as sultan Erdogan gets pissed off, rather he got pissed on (yeah I AM damn sarcastic and nasty today) so much the better. Yes I do despise the shit house the country of my birth (US of A) has become, but these petty thugs like Erdogan really get me pissed off. Ever wonder why he thinks (??) he can play both the US/NATO and Russia? I hope he gets slammed by them all.

A slight error: Wahhabi. al-Qaeda wanders back and forth into Wahhabi and out.

al-Wahhab's main point was that the Caliphate became corrupt in the 14th century and lost all legitimacy. Yes, the first four Caliphs were rashid (not clear what rashid means, I've heard lots of translations, but whatever rashid means, it's very, very good). After that, not. And during the 14th century (that's the 14th Xtian century, or the 7th Islamic century) the Caliphate lost all legitimacy, and the spiritual and temporal leadership of all Islam passed to the head of the al-Saud tribe. The Daesh believes they chose a Caliph, and he's the new and much improved spiritual and temporal leader of all Islam, but no one outside the Daesh accepts their Caliph (whoever he is as of current date).

Every Wahhabi accepts that the King of Saudi Arabia, the Keeper of the Two Holy Places, is the sole spiritual and temporal leader of all Islam.

Sometimes, al-Qaeda accepts, to get money and recognition from Saudi Arabia, and sometimes not. So they're kind of, sort of, sometimes Wahhabi, but not 100%.

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